Scottish Executive

Anti-Social Behaviour

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any systems are currently in place to monitor the incidence of anti-social behaviour on public transport and, if not, whether it has any plans to introduce any such system.

Lewis Macdonald: Local transport providers and police forces keep records of incidences of vandalism and assault. We have no plans to collect this information centrally.

  We continue to encourage public transport operators and the police to deal with incidents of anti-social behaviour, including vandalism and assault, with the utmost seriousness.

Central Heating

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the £10 million for central heating for the over-80s announced in its press release SESJ055/2002 will be made available.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the new central heating scheme announced in its press release SESJ055/2002 will encompass.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the eligibility criteria will be for the new central heating scheme announced in its press release SESJ055/2002.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the new central heating scheme announced in its press release SESJ055/2002 to come into operation.

Hugh Henry: The additional £10 million for free central heating for the over-80s forms part of the Social Justice spending plans for the three years beginning 2004-05. Full details, including the terms under which the central heating will be provided, will be announced nearer the time.

Child Care

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the £20 million for child care announced in its press release SESJ055/2002 will be made available.

Ms Margaret Curran: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-29391 on 30 September 2002. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s Website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Crime

Angus MacKay (Edinburgh South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many crimes were (a) committed and (b) cleared up in each year since 1996.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information available is given in the following table:

  Crimes Recorded and Cleared up by the Police, Scotland, 1996-2001

   
Category 1996
1997 1998
1999 2000
2001  Crimes recorded
451,956 420,642
431,551 435,703
423,172 421,093
 Crimes cleared up
165,577 164,242
178,107 188,912
187,767 188,966

Drug Misuse

Angus MacKay (Edinburgh South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many drug-related convictions there have been in each year since 1996.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information available is given in the following table. The statistics identify persons with a charge proved where the main offence involved the illegal importation, cultivation, supply or possession of drugs. Other offences may be drug-related, such as those committed to fund a drug habit, but these cannot be separately identified within the statistics held centrally. Information for 2001 is not expected to be available until around November 2002.

  Persons with a Charge Proved Where the Main Offence was a Drugs Offence, 1996-2000

  
 Year Number
 1996 6,183
 1997 7,005
 1998 6,918
 1999 6,400
 2000 5,383

Drug Misuse

Angus MacKay (Edinburgh South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual expenditure on drug-related activities has been in each year since 1996, broken down by expenditure on crime, education, rehabilitation and treatment.

Dr Richard Simpson: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-29869 on 8 October 2002. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Education

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Education Maintenance Allowance scheme will be extended across the whole of Scotland.

Iain Gray: The extension of Education Maintenance Allowances across the whole of Scotland will begin in academic year 2004-05.

Education

Angus MacKay (Edinburgh South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have taken up further education in each year since 1996.

Iain Gray: The following table shows the number of enrolments in further education in each year since 1996.

  
 Year
Higher Education Institutions
Further Education CollegesVocational
Further Education CollegesNon-vocational
Total  1996-97
199 260,624
45,186 306,009
 1997-98
184 274,119
57,331 331,634
 1998-99
203 280,890
60,137 341,230
 1999-2000
129 302,277
50,859 353,265
 2000-01
133 346,128
59,393 405,654

Justice

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases relating to the abuse of attorney have been brought to the courts in each year since May 1999.

Mrs Elish Angiolini: The term abuse of attorney is not one known to the Scottish legal system. No statistics are kept at Crown Office in relation to cases involving an abuse of a power of attorney.

NHS Spending

Angus MacKay (Edinburgh South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on hospital buildings in each year since 1996

Malcolm Chisholm: An accurate assessment of spend on hospital buildings is not maintained centrally. However, the capital budget, including capital receipts, available to NHS Scotland in each year was as follows:

  
 Year
£ million 
1997-98 136
 1998-99
166  1999-2000
217  2000-01
248  2001-02
285 

  A proportion of each year’s budget was allocated on a formula basis to NHS trusts for routine maintenance, achievement of statutory standards, the purchase of small items of equipment and small capital projects such as ward upgrades. The amounts allocated under these heads range from £54 million to £90 million. The balance in each year has been allocated by Scottish Executive Health Department in support of business cases for buildings and equipment.

  In addition to NHS capital, hospital buildings with a capital cost of £469 million have been provided by the private sector. The annual cost to NHS Scotland for the provision of these fully maintained facilities (the annual unitary charge) was:

  
 Year
£ million 
1997-98 4.9
 1998-99
6.4  1999-2000
7.1  2000-01
12.5  2001-02
54.1

Rail Network

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what powers it has to introduce legislation preventing the storage or placement of flammable or otherwise dangerous materials adjacent to railway lines or sidings, detailing when it will exercise any such power and the reasons behind its position on this matter.

Hugh Henry: Employers are obliged to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 in the running of their premises. Health and safety legislation includes requirements to protect the public outwith the premises as well as those within. However, health and safety matters are reserved.

  Scottish planning controls, namely the Planning Hazardous Substances consent regime, relate to the storage of specified hazardous substances or categories of hazardous substance above specified quantity related thresholds.

  In addition, it is open to planning authorities, when determining planning applications for new physical development or changes of use of sites that involve the storage or placement of flammable or otherwise dangerous materials in proximity to a railway line or siding, to consider whether the potential risk or impact of an accident is a material consideration in the determination of such applications.

  Where the storage or placement of flammable or otherwise dangerous materials is part of a process or activity subject to control under either Part 1 of the Environment Protection Act 1990 or the Pollution, Prevention and Control Regulations 2000, then conditions can be attached to the authorisation/permit by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency aimed at preventing accidents and minimising the consequences for the environment.

  The Executive has no current plans to introduce legislation in relation to these matters.

Social Justice

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much in real terms the reduction of £5 million in the budget for providing the services and support that people need, as detailed in the social justice section of its spending proposals for 2003-06, will be in 2004-05.

Mr Andy Kerr: The real terms reduction in budget for providing the services and support that people need in 2004-05 compared to 2003-04 is approximately 19%. The reduction arises from the completion of the Refuge Development Fund, a three-year programme of capital expenditure to provide accommodation for the victims of domestic abuse. The resources that were available to the fund in 2003-04 have been re-allocated to decommissioning the Glasgow hostels in 2004-05 and 2005-06.

Social Justice

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the definition is of "high profile ‘must see’ sporting and cultural events" as detailed in the social justice section of its 2003-06 spending proposals.

Mike Watson: We have commissioned consultants to help us develop a major events strategy for Scotland. Their report is expected this month and, following consultation with the Major Events Steering Group, we expect to announce the form of our major events strategy later this year. The details of the various types of events on which the strategy may focus will be worked up once this announcement has been made.

Social Justice

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive,  further to the answer to question S1W-28419 by Mr Andy Kerr on 11 September 2002, whether it will publish evidence and/or statistics on the effectiveness of any one advertising campaign that any of its departments have carried out since 1999; whether it will place a copy of such evidence and/or statistics in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre and, if it does not produce or publish such evidence and/or statistics, what the estimated cost of such production and publication would have been.

Mr Andy Kerr: I have placed a copy of the research report (Bib. number 24369) and questionnaire (Bib. number 24368) on the Scottish Executive’s road safety campaign Foolsspeed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre. The report is titled Changing speeding behaviour in Scotland: An evaluation of the "Foolsspeed" campaign .

  This five-year campaign began in 1999 after a baseline survey in November 1998. Follow-up surveys were conducted in spring 1999, spring 2000 and summer 2001. The research, carried out by the Centre for Social Marketing, University of Strathclyde found "robust evidence that the campaign was associated with a change in attitudes towards speeding".